UBF Daily Bread

GOD GIVES WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, AND HAPPINESS

Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:12~26

Key verse: 26

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.^(A)
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?^(B)
¹³I saw that wisdom^(C) is better than folly,^(D)
    just as light is better than darkness.
¹⁴The wise have eyes in their heads,
    while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
    that the same fate overtakes them both.^(E)

¹⁵Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”^(F)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
¹⁶For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;^(G)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.^(H)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!^(I)

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(J) ¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^(K) ¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(L) Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^(M) ²³All their days their work is grief and pain;^(N) even at night their minds do not rest.^(O) This too is meaningless.

²⁴A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(P) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(Q) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^(R) ²⁵for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^(S) ²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(T) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(U) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(V) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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As the Teacher deeply considered wisdom and labor, he understood that both are valuable. At the same time, he also understood that wisdom and labor, without God, are temporary, finite, and powerless in the face of death.

The Teacher contrasted wisdom with madness and folly. Wisdom is better than folly. Wisdom gives a person light to know how to navigate and live life in a broken world. Yet, whether a person has lived with wisdom or has been a fool, both must die (16). Only faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and conquered death through his resurrection, can give us eternal life (Jn 3:16). God’s gift of eternal life permanently solves all of life’s agonies.

Next, the Teacher reflected on his labor. He hated all the things for which he had toiled because he had to leave them to someone who had not labored for them. That person might even be a fool! His labor was grief and pain. He had no control over who would receive the fruit of his labor because he would be dead. This felt completely meaningless.

Happiness and enjoyment are gifts from God. Will you seek him and please him?

Prayer: Father, please allow the reflections of the Teacher to redirect my heart away from myself and to seek and please you.

One Word: Please God